Are England playing into Italy’s hands by focusing on Andrea Pirlo?

Andrea Pirlo could turn England’s plan to stop him back on them like a boomerang (Picture: AP)

It looks like England are doing everything Italy want them to in Manaus, including focus on Andrea Pirlo.

The pre-match preparations for Manaus could not be more different in the Italy and England camps. Assistant Gary Neville was photographed holding training notes that suggest Roy Hodgson will focus on keeping the tempo high, pushing midfielders up to support the centre-forward and pressing the Azzurri all over the field.

Hodgson and his players have already made it abundantly clear in their interviews that Pirlo will be man-marked or even set up within a tactical ‘cage’ to stop him having the kind of unfiltered influence the Juventus star enjoyed in the Euro 2012 quarter-final. If true, then it could backfire spectacularly.

Throughout the build-up to the World Cup, Cesare Prandelli and his men constantly referred to the heat and humidity they encountered when playing the Confederations Cup in Brazil last summer.

They learned from the experience and the long journeys between venues, adapting their fitness training with a specially-constructed sauna called the ‘Manaus Hut.’ England simply trained with several layers of clothing, but this cannot possibly replicate the difficulty breathing you find when running in humid conditions.

By making so obvious their intentions to close down Pirlo at all costs, Hodgson and his staff risk leaving acres of space to Marco Verratti instead.

With all this in mind, the Azzurri repeated this important mantra: Make the ball do the running.

This approach is shown in the squad choices too, where Prandelli shunned traditional centre-forwards like Alberto Gilardino, Daniel Pablo Osvaldo and Luca Toni in favour of versatile runners such as Napoli talent Lorenzo Insigne and Alessio Cerci, plus the creative pass-picking genius Antonio Cassano. Midfield is Italy’s greatest strength, even without injured Riccardo Montolivo, and it’s all about quality rather than quantity.

Prandelli resisted using Marco Verratti alongside Pirlo before now, but many have been calling for this dynamic duo ever since the Paris Saint-Germain talent shot to fame in Serie B with Pescara. Why wait for Pirlo to retire before bringing his heir into the side when you can enjoy both simultaneously?

England are giving Prandelli the perfect opportunity to use Verratti and Pirlo together. By making so obvious their intentions to close down Pirlo at all costs, Hodgson and his staff risk leaving acres of space to Verratti instead. They certainly can’t man-mark two creative midfielders, otherwise England would spend their entire time trying to stop Italy from playing rather than inventing any chances of their own. Mind you, that does more or less sum up the Euro 2012 encounter…

If England really do intend to play a high-tempo game with a man dedicated to blocking Pirlo, then it’s entirely possible they could be playing right into Italy’s hands.